RISE AND FALL: MORE THAN 140 WORDS ON 'GRAVITY'

No one enjoys falling -- whether it's down a flight of stairs, out of a tree or off a mountain. But if there's one thing the force of gravity ensures, it's that sooner or later, no matter how high we climb, we fall.

In Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón's spectacular new film 'Gravity', Sandra Bullock and George Clooney play astronauts contending with a freak accident above the Earth and fighting the awesome force of gravity to stay alive. It's also the story of a grieving mother climbing as high as she possibly can to escape a fall she must sooner or later come to terms with.

And, I believe, Gravity is about a still greater fall -- that of our unsustainable civilization. It's really about the Tower of Babel we've built over the last 10,000 years, about the destruction we've wrought on the planet and the reality we must face that, sooner or later, no matter what flag we plant on the moon or distant planet -- American, Russian or Chinese -- gravity is inexorably bringing it and us down.

While this all may sound ominous and depressing -- spoiler alert! -- the film ends on a high note with an epic fall landing us back where we belong and where, stumble as we may at first, gravity will never keep us from getting back up.